Rabat – International humanitarian organization Save the Children has reported that approximately 500 children, including two dozen infants in a government-run orphanage in Khartoum, have tragically perished due to hunger since the eruption of violence in Sudan this past April.
According to the organization, the ongoing conflict has resulted in the closure of 57 of its nutrition centers across Sudan, leaving an estimated 31,000 children without access to critical malnutrition treatment and related medical care. The violence has ensnared the nation in chaos and upheaval, with protracted tensions between military and paramilitary factions erupting into full-scale warfare on April 15.
Urban centers such as Khartoum have been transformed into battlegrounds, causing residents to grapple with dire shortages of basic necessities like water and electricity. The healthcare system, already under strain, is teetering on the brink of collapse.
Arif Noor, Save the Children’s director for Sudan, expressed profound shock at the grim reality facing the country’s children, stating: “Never did we think we would see children dying from hunger in such numbers, but this is now the reality in Sudan. We are seeing children dying from entirely preventable hunger.”
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The extent of the violence’s toll is staggering, with estimates suggesting that the conflict has claimed at least 4,000 lives, according to the UN human rights office. Yet, those on the ground, including activists and medical professionals, believe the actual death toll could be significantly higher.
Save the Children’s report highlights the distressing numbers of children succumbing to malnutrition and associated illnesses since violence erupted between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces.
Between May and July alone, over 316 children, predominantly under the age of 5, lost their lives due to malnutrition and related complications in the southern White Nile province. Additionally, over the past eight months, more than 2,400 children have been admitted to hospitals with severe acute malnutrition, the most fatal form of malnutrition.
In the eastern Qadarif province, at least 132 children lost their lives to malnutrition in the government-operated Children’s Hospital between April and July. The devastation further extended to an orphanage in Khartoum, where approximately 50 children, including two dozen infants, perished due to starvation and related ailments during the first six weeks of the conflict. Save the Children staff struggled to access the orphanage due to the intense fighting.
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As the violence persists, clashes continue to escalate. Reports have emerged of intense battles occurring near a military camp south of Khartoum, as the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces endeavor to seize this pivotal facility. Meanwhile, Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, has borne witness to fierce combat over the past week, exacerbating ethnic tensions and further fueling the crisis in the volatile Darfur region.
The plight of Sudan’s children remains a pressing concern for international aid organizations, who are urging an immediate cessation of hostilities to allow for the delivery of crucial humanitarian aid to the affected regions. The world watches as this African nation grapples with a crisis that has claimed innocent lives, particularly those of the most vulnerable—its children.
